Dr Vino's wine blog

Steve Heimoff asked about per capita rates in last week’s wine trivia question. So this week I give you the biggest question of them all: which state has the highest wine consumption per capita? (population over 21)

Answer and data source will be revealed in 24 hrs. Until then, the comments are open. Go for the glory and be the first to answer correctly. And go for the double bonus points if you can also guess the correct amount (gallons per adult per year).

Is the world running out of Champagne? Such is what a panicked headline in the Guardian implied recently.

Indeed, Champagne is the most effervescent region in France, a winemaking country where practically every other region is affected by la crise viticole. Peter Liem, Senior Correspondent for Wine & Spirits magazine, is so interested in Champagne that he left New York earlier this year to move there. I caught up with him via email about what’s happening on the ground. He talks in detail about the effects of the phenomenal demand for Champagne and offers his picks for reasonably priced bubbly here in the States–as well as ones only available in France. Read more…

Have you ever tasted true, pre-winemaker terroir? How about a comparative tasting of wine grapes?

Such a tasting is possible next week in New York City–with grapes harvested just two days prior in Sonoma and FedExed in. It’s part of an evening October 3 at the NYU Torch club called “Sonoma winegrape harvest celebration” organized by the Sonoma Winegrape Commission, the James Beard Foundation, and New York University’s School of Continuing and Comparative Studies.

The event will open with a reception including four Somona cheeses (including the yummy Cowgirl creamery) and three wines. Then I’ll moderate a discussion about the diverse area and harvest update from winemaker Joel Peterson of Ravenswood and winegrape grower Jim Murphy. Then Jim will lead us in the just pick’d grape tasting–two flights of four kinds of red grapes!

Sonoma-based chef, Bruze Riezenman, will then lead the group in a food and wine pairing. The event concludes with another casual tasting of five wines and Chef Riezenman’s small plates.

In all, there will be thirteen wines, red and white, from Sonoma–and eight types of grapes! Check out the 2007 harvest, without jet lag.

October 3, NYU. Registration and details.
(image from sonomawinegrape.org)

The venerable wine retailer Sherry-Lehmann moved and I couldn’t wait to check out the new digs. After all, with so much innovation in New York City wine shops, I was eager to see how the management of this patrician shop capitalized on the opportunity to do something different with their new space at Park Avenue at 59th Street.

They didn’t. It’s lighter, with windows on two sides now. But it’s still compact, now with less friendly displays.

On my visit, two things caught my eye as I browsed. Read more…

This week the New York Times ended their experiment with a pay subscription barrier on selected content (“Times Select”)–yay, free content for all! Subscriptions had made the company $10 million a year but the thinking is that by making the “premium” content free to readers, the uptick in page views and associated advertising revenues will offset the loss of subscriptions. Even the Wall Street Journal, seen as the most successful online newspaper with $65 million in subscription revenue, is talking about giving out the content for free under the forthcoming Murdoch regime.

Some wine sites put their content behind subscription barriers, notably eRobertParker.com, WineSpectator.com, and JancisRobinson.com. The Wine Spectator also hits readers with ads after they have already paid, as did Times Select for that matter.

Are there enough ads out there to support wine sites? Should subscription-based wine sites go free? Have your say in the poll and the comments below.

poll now closed

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Wine coolers, remember those things? Bartles and Jaymes? “Thank you for your support.”

Anyway, you’re hardly alone if you haven’t had one in the past decade–sales have lost their fizz, declining 95% in that time. Indeed, now they have become a hilarious insult as in the above t-shirt offered by Boston Red Sox fans.

Wine coolers actually did have some wine in them a long time ago. Not anymore. Congress raised the federal excise tax on wine to $1.07 a gallon, effective January 1, 1991. Doesn’t sound like a lot but the previous rate was $0.17/gallon, so it quintupled. That put the economic kibash on coolers and now they they are made from malt. “Wine” cooler, indeed! I vote for a name change. Malt cooler?

Anyway, some important wine cooler trivia: which state had the honor of consuming the most “wine” coolers in 2005, almost beating the second and third states combined? Hit the comments below and the glory will be yours.

Image: chowdaheadz.com/jedrwicot.html

SIPPED: Freddy boy
If there were no Fred Franzia, would journalists have to invent him? In this story, the man behind Two Buck Chuck swears, slams all wine over $10 a bottle, mocks the concept of terroir, and relieves himself near his car–all in the first paragraph! Business 2.0 lapped it up talking about his “wars” and why he has an Enya CD in his Jeep. [Business 2.0, now defunct]

SPIT: Blind tastings
Eric Asimov writes “maybe as wine drinkers we’re all a little more grown up now and don’t need to taste blind all the time.” Indeed! Three cheers wine evaluation without numbers! [The Pour]

SIPPED: Gringo vino
Are Americans finally heading to Argentina to make wine? Fortune Small Business found a few. I hope they read my article from January about the pitfalls! [Fortune SB]

SIPPED: Bambino vino
Gabriella writes up her experience taking 55 elementary school kids on a winery tour in Spain. Could this ever take place if it were in America? [Catavino]

SIPPED: green wine
Whole Foods rolls out an “organically grown” wine in a tetra prisma! [Seattle dbusiness]

SIPPED: merlot
The grape, spit in Sideways, will get it’s own defense on the silver screen with a new documentary. Key question: will anyone notice?

SPIT: The greenback
The US dollar falls to 15 year lows. Say hello to more expensive imported wine–and wine travel overseas!

(Photo credit: Fair use is made here of a reduced-size crop from a larger image in Business 2.0 attributed to Michael Kelley)

Should kids be banned from wineries? The recent poll on this topic generated a heated discussion and, as of this writing, those against banning kids were ahead by a 3-1 margin.

But I want to see those kids. So let’s have a kids and winery photo contest! Cute overload! In fact, for those who live nearer wine bars or wine shops than wineries, it could be kids in that sort of wine environment photo too. Rather than just the usual “glory” that I hand out, this time there will be actual prizes.

Since we have a wine and kids combination in our very own house, I’m drawing on that for the prize. My wife, Michelle, has written four children’s books and a baby journal. The prize will be a complete set of her five books, including the not-yet-released newest book in the series! It will also include an Urban Babies Wear Black onesie.

Here are the books:

Urban Babies Wear Black
Country Babies Wear Plaid
Beach Babies Wear Shades
Winter Babies Wear Layers — a special pre-release!
The New Baby’s Baby Journal–another pre-release!
and…the black onesie!

Am I trying to stick my finger in the proverbial eye of those who voted anti-child pro-banning in the poll? No! Even if you’re pro-banning, you can still send in a picture of a kid at a winery. Photoshop is your friend, people! And should you win, you can give the books away to your favorite niece or nephew. Just to sweeten the deal, I’ll throw in a box of grape juice.

So here’s what you need to do. Send in your photos to me at tyler at drvino dot com by Monday, October 1. I’ll put them up on this site. (If you want me to link to your blog, let me know the details–if you want anonymity for your little one, I’ll assign the photo a number.) Then during that week, you can vote for your choice and maybe even caption the photos. By Sunday, October 7, the one with the most votes wins the prize!

Urban Babies Wear Black
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